From Prisoner to Teammate
by irishguy117
Summary: While Sora tries to integrate into the Atlantis community problems arise between her and her new team leader, and she has to survive the oncoming Wraith onslaught.
1. Chapter 1

Lieutenant Patrick O'Riely and his recently suspended team stood at attention as Major John Sheppard and Dr. Weir approached the holding cell they were assigned to guard.

"At ease," ordered Major Sheppard, mostly succeeding in hiding his apparent distrust of the Lieutenant.

"Sora I'm afraid we come bearing bad news," started Dr. Weir trying to break the news to her gently.

"I need no formal announcement Dr. Weir, I knew as soon as I helped Dr. Becket into the control room that I would never again return to the Genii. We are not a trusting people, and they will expect me to be dead or a traitor by now. That this is all a trap for more of our people. You have given them good reason in the past." She finished, as she realized she had said "them" instead of "us".

"What, do you not wish to return home to your people?" asked Dr. Weir, clearly concerned for her prisoner's well being.

"Why do you care? And what people? My father is dead, my mother died a long time ago, and the Genii are not much for making friends. We gave up much to fight the Wraith, while you grew your civilization in comfort."

"Our civilization has had just as much suffering as yours, but we haven't let that change who we are. We learned a long time ago that when you "give up" things like compassion and mercy to fight an enemy, one day you'll become that enemy." Major Sheppard just short of shouted at her, taking her words as an insult to the memory of every soldier who died defending Earth from other countries and from the Goa'uld.

"Relax Major we're not here to fight." Dr. Weir said in an attempt to calm her friend down before the conversation took a turn she didn't want it to."If you knew you could never go home why did you stay?" She asked in the manner of someone who thinks they know the answer

"I stayed to avenge my father, a feud I expected to die in, which I have now given up. The Genii believe me too emotional anyway, so I don't really have anything else to live for. I don't care anymore." she said sounding defeated, and content to live in her small cell for the rest of her life.

"So what do you expect us to do with you?" asked lieutenant O'Riely, betraying concern for the young woman he had slowly begun getting to know, even though the look he received from major Sheppard informed him he was not to be a part of this conversation. "Do you want to just stay locked up here for the rest of your life?"

"I just don't care anymore; do what you will with me. Why should I care anyway? The only people I felt any allegiance to abandoned me and never cared about me anyway. My family is dead and even if you release me the Genii will find me, interrogate me for information about you and then probably kill me." She said matter-of-factly, only betraying the slightest hint of her despair in the description of her fate.

"You don't even want revenge anymore? You see no reason at all to go on?" Asked Major Sheppard, as he could understand her despair better than Dr. Weir.

"Revenge for what? You let me read your own mission reports, and in your place I may have stopped to help that man myself. Cowen refused to give me any details at all. I don't hate Teyla anymore, had he been anyone but my father I would have made the same decisions as her in the same situation." She admitted, clearly haven given up her anger and hatred. "I have no home to go back to. What am I supposed to do, become one of your people? Go on missions with you to explore and fight the Wraith like Teyla does"

"In time that could be a good idea, if you're willing to prove yourself trustworthy." Remarked Major Sheppard. When everyone stared at him with a confused expression he replied "What, I've seen her in action and she almost beat Teyla in hand to hand combat. I've never beaten Teyla in hand to hand combat. She saved Dr. Becket and like she said has no home to go to. If you can prove to me you're trustworthy I'd support you becoming one of us."

He finished to a shocked Sora.

"You would do this for me? After all I have done to your people? After all the Genii have done? Even though I don't deserve any mercy?" She said so shocked at the idea she didn't even consider if she should accept it.

"I thought Teyla would have taught you this by now, we're willing to show you mercy, which you do deserve. If you can drop your hatred so can we, besides your father was killed and you had every right to be angry. We need all the help we can get in the fight against the Wraith and we need Intel on the Genii. If you can prove you're trustworthy." Offered the Major, himself slightly amazed he was offering her something like this.

"Well if you would agree to help us and the major is okay with it I have no objection, however I am a little unsure of your loyalty, and the Genii have claimed to be our friends before." She said making her suspicion clear.

"Well I will have to think your offer over Doctor Weir. After that if I decide to join you I'll just have to find some way to make you trust me. Sora replied, plainly unsure about what to do.

With that major Sheppard and Dr. Weir walked away, returning to their duties. On the way back to the control tower Dr. Weir asked "why did you cast me as the bad cop back there?"

Without slowing down Sheppard replied "because if she does join us and I have a feeling she will I want her to respond to a military chain of command, which means me. If we end up in a firefight I want her trust to lie with the military, and she'll still follow your orders because she follows my orders."

"I see" she answered still confused "so why did you offer her that anyway? I hadn't even considered it because I expected you to object."

Just as they reached a transporter he stopped and said "I offered her that because I think she's scared, depressed and been abandoned by the only people she ever knew, and she needs a home. And we need more people like her and Teyla, who can introduce us to the natives and provide us with Intel we sorely lack at the moment." he said, adding the last part hastily to cover up his understandable concern for her situation, very similar to the one they found themselves in now.

"Aha" Weir replied finally understanding his motives as he hit the transporter button for the central tower.

Back at the holding cell the guard team settled in to watch the prisoner for hours as she sat behind the impenetrable force fields.

As soon as they were thoroughly bored, Sora asked "lieutenant, you knew Major Sheppard was going to offer me a place here didn't you?

"Yes" he replied "I figured it out during the conversation, I also guessed you'd accept since you have nowhere else to go."

"Huh" she replied sounding unconvinced. "What was the look about?" she asked

"What look?" he asked in return trying and failing to sound innocent

"The look Major Sheppard gave you when you spoke up" she said clearly knowing he didn't want to talk about it.

"It was ... I... screwed up." he said plainly full of regrets as he sat on the floor and relived his mistake.

"What happ...

At that moment the alarms began ringing all over the city as well as an announcement "unscheduled off world activation! Shield has malfunctioned! There are wraith in the City! I say again Wraith in the Cit AAGH!

The Loudspeaker switched to the voice of Major Sheppard, shouting over the sound of P-90 fire and wraith stunners "all military personnel to the control tower seal off the exits! Seal off the control tower now!"

"Sir what do we do about her?" corporal sanders asked hurriedly as the team was about to leave

After a moment of consideration on the Lieutenant's part Sora shouted "take me with you! You said I need to prove my loyalty well I can do that now let me out! You need all the help you can get!"

After another moment of thinking the Lieutenant approached the holding cell and began entering the door code. As he started Corporal Sanders shouted "sir this is a mistake! We can't trust her! She's the enemy!"

"Shut up Sanders that's a direct order!" yelled Sergeant Johnson as he clipped the Marine on the back of the head.

At that point the door opened and Sora stepped out, the lieutenant handed her his sidearm and asked "you know how to use this?"

As an answer she loaded a round into the chamber.

"I need to know you'll follow orders." he stated flatly holding her arm before he fully let her out.

"This would be the perfect opportunity to escape. I have no intention of doing that. You offered me something more, a home. I intend to defend it just as you do. I'll follow your orders to the letter." she said in a manner that clearly closed the topic.

Together the team moved into the halls in a diamond formation headed for the control tower to join up with the rest of the Atlantis defenders.


	2. Chapter 2

The Wraith warrior snarled loudly through its full-face helmet as it charged towards the team. Sora shot it repeatedly with her borrowed M9. After which she remarked "interesting, it is an improvement over our own sidearm, but still far too weak for a situation like this. I need something more powerful."

"Sir, I brought a Zat with me from Earth, I usually leave it in my quarters but I brought it for guard duty. Here you can have it." Answered Airman First Class Robert Williams.

"What is a Zat?" Sora asked confused. When she saw it she became more confused "this does not seem like any weapon I have ever seen, it doesn't look like one of your weapons"

"It's not, look I would love to explain it to you later but all you need to know now is that one shot stuns, two will kill, and you press this to open it, and this to fire." O'Riely explained hurriedly, eager to leave the rather exposed hallway they were in. after Sora fired a few test shots and shot the Wraith as it suddenly got back up he announced "look that's the third Wraith we've run into so far, either a few got through or Major Sheppard and most of the expedition are already dead and the Wraith are just mopping up. Either way we need to get to the Control tower. There we'll either join up with Sheppard or arm the self destruct and get out of here. Let's move." His grim announcement did little to raise spirits but it made the circumstances clear. The team slid back into a diamond formation with Sora, the weakest armed and only team member without body armor in the center, as they headed towards the control tower.

"Fire now!" Major Sheppard yelled for the ambush to commence, as more than 20 Wraith moved into the kill zone, and Atlantis military personnel appeared on all sides from behind cover and quickly hosed them with fire. Several calls of "clear" later, Major Sheppard ordered "move out, there are still more stragglers." He then spoke into his radio "how's the Gate defense going?"

"Oh just dandy thank you. By the way if you happen to think of something hard to do just ask cause this isn't difficult enough already for me!" shouted Rodney McKay into his radio. "Look Sheppard we're holding the control room and I'm trying to keep the shield closed. Somehow the Wraith are hacking into our computers through the wormhole and trying to shut down our shield again. So it would be very helpful if you shut up"

"Wait hacking? As in right now?" asked Sheppard confused even as he ordered "split up, 5 man teams, each team gets at least one life signs detector. Hunt down any signal you can find. Shoot the Wraith and bring the civilians along. Damn it we need someplace to secure them. All right 3 teams go and secure the mess hall, order all civilians to hunker down there."

"Yes hacking as in right now. Do I interrupt you when you're focused on killing Wraith? Whoever this guy is he is good Sheppard, I'm gonna need a few minutes to lock him out of the system."

"Copy, McKay if you can get the Stargate to close dial out immediately and we can focus on wiping out the Wraith instead of worrying about new ones." Sheppard instructed as he lead his team toward one of the larger groups of life signs."

"Sir, we should go to the armory first, pick up more ammo and equipment before heading into a major fight. We don't stand a chance like this in a massive firefight."Suggested corporal Sanders.

"Negative, we don't have time, if there is a fight we could be losing people by the second and we need to get in there." Replied the lieutenant.

"Yeah but what if there is no fight? What if we already lost and we have to go on the run? We'll need supplies!" he shouted angrily, drawing the attention of a nearby Wraith looking for a meal

"What! The city is under attack and you're concerned about your own skin you little weasel?" The Lieutenant shouted angrily as he turned down the corridor and ordered let's go.

Corporal Sanders hesitated while the rest of the team moved on, and the Wraith chose that moment to strike, rushing in for the kill. By the time he screamed for help it had already started feeding off him, his body was a withered husk by the time the team came to his aid. It took all of them half a minute and their collective magazines to bring down a Wraith that had so recently fed.

"Damn, okay move on we have to get to the control room." Ordered the Lieutenant, obviously disturbed at losing someone under his command, even if it was Sanders' fault. Regardless of his distress the team moved quickly through the halls toward the control tower, and stumbled into a massive firefight in the mess hall. 40 or more Wraith were coming in from one set of doors towards 13 dug in Atlantis military personnel who were trying to hold them off and protect the numerous civilians also hiding behind barriers in the room. Luckily the team arrived in a flanking position and was able to cause significant casualties in the Wraith. As they repeatedly fired and took cover, both Sergeant Johnson and Airman Williams were hit by Wraith stun blasts, leaving the Lieutenant and Sora to try and hold off the Wraith. Just as the Lieutenant ran out of ammo and the Wraith nearly overran the Mess Hall massive bursts of gunfire cut into the rear of the Wraith, finishing off the last of them. At final tally only Lieutenant O'Riely, Sora and three of the Atlantis personnel had come through the firefight unscathed, while two had been fed on during the fight.

"Everybody okay in there?" shouted Major Sheppard as he and his team entered the Mess Hall looking for survivors.

"Lieutenant O'Riely here sir, two KIA in the mess hall. Lost Sanders in a hallway back there. Everybody else is just stunned. Sir, what the hell happened?"

"I don't know, best guess is that Wraith dialed in, McKay said they hacked our system and took down the shield then they just started pouring through. Hundreds apparently. Most got cut down exiting the gate but some slipped through. We've got the shield back up and are trying to hunt down the remaining Wraith. That was the last big group, but there are still some running around. We need to get mov… you let her out of the holding cell? During a crisis like this?" He yelled, clearly demanding an answer from Lieutenant O'Riely

"Sir, with respect she has followed all orders and proven herself against the Wraith. Also sir, you did say she needed to prove her loyalty. After this, I believe in her without question." The lieutenant stated proudly. "I believed it to be the best course of action. At the time I had no Intel on what was happening and I needed all the help I could get. We wouldn't have held out until you got here without her sir, not without significantly higher casualties. "He argued, defending his decision as he saw the disapproval on the Major's face.

Both Sergeant Johnson and Airman Williams who were now awake also vouched for Sora's loyalty, bravery, and effectiveness in combat with the Wraith.

"All right I get it you trust her. All of you? With your lives?" when he received nods from the entire team he said "very well, you said you lost Sanders back there, so consider her his replacement. At least until the current situation is resolved." At that point he received a call on his radio from McKay

"Sheppard, I've shut down the Stargate and redialed, no more Wraith to deal with. I'm working on what happened but I think I should be able to set up protocols to isolate the shields right now; I'll be able to secure the computers entirely with enough time. Anyway for now we've set up the biometric sensor, the Wraith have all gathered together in a large room nearby, looks like they're digging in there. I've got a feeling that we weren't supposed to be able to shut down the gate. As soon as it went down they stopped spreading out and started coming together." Rodney reported, in a for once professional tone now that he was no longer in danger of being shot. "Sheppard I've managed to seal them off, and I think I can vent the atmosphere. There are no windows in that room and I've sealed every exit. Do you want me to do it?"

"What do you mean; yes of course I want you to kill all the Wraith. Do it McKay"

"Alright I'm doing it. And Wraith life signs disappearing." After a few minutes for one particular straggler McKay finally reported "all wraith life signs gone. I think it's over"

"Okay then." Major Sheppard said, now letting his weariness creep into his voice. "Somebody find Dr. Weir, I want four teams to go over there and make sure the Wraith are all dead. Get some rest if you're wounded or if you really need it, the rest of you start counting up the dead. I want an accurate headcount, and the names of everyone we lost today."


	3. Chapter 3

Major Sheppard ran up the steps of Stargate operations into the control room to meet up with Doctor Elizabeth Weir "Elizabeth, you okay?"He asked plainly concerned for her well being.

"Yes major I'm fine, thank you but we have to see to the well being of everyone else first." Replied Dr. Weir, clearly irritated about being put before those she commands. "Have you finished rooting out the last of the Wraith?" she asked as she moved the conversation into the privacy of her office.

"Not sure, I've got Lieutenant O'Riely leading the search effort, along with almost half of our security forces. We have no accurate body count yet but it's looking to be around 20 or so, almost entirely civilians. Most of the Wraith sprinted past our security force and fed on the people behind them. I've got teams watching the majority of the population here and in the mess hall. Also Lieutenant O'Riely released Sora during the fighting; she reportedly fought well and was very helpful." He reported waiting for her response before betraying his own reaction to the news.

"I see. And what is your opinion of this decision Major?" she asked.

"I decided that her actions today were enough for me to trust her, and Lieutenant O'Riely lost a man in the assault so I temporarily assigned her to his team, pending your approval." He said clearly anticipating a potentially negative response for his actions, stopping just short of trying to sink into his chair.

"I see. You believe her to be trustworthy?" she asked, when she received a nod in response she continued "and your sure she will be useful" after another, rather enthusiastic nod, she finished "very well Major I have no objections, as of right now Sora is officially a member of the Atlantis Expedition, and a member of Lieutenant O'Riely's team. I assume this means you will be reinstating his team to off-world missions?" she asked, clearly avoiding something so as to avoid angering him.

"That remains to be seen, but he is the only team leader who wouldn't have a problem with her seeing as she used to be the enemy and all. I'll have to decide if I am sure I trust his judgment before he leaves this base again though." He responded also avoiding a clearly unpleasant topic.

"If you don't trust him so much then why did you assign him to lead the teams looking for leftover Wraith?

"Because he was the ranking officer present not counting myself and in a crisis like that I don't have time to pick and choose who does what. I have significantly more time to decide who does what when it comes to off-world missions though. Anyway I have to get back out there, finish organizing the search teams, and I'll have everyone sent back to Stargate ops so we can finish a headcount." He finished wearily before getting out of his chair in her office and leaving.

Meanwhile in another area of the city Lieutenant Patrick O'Riely led his team searching for life signs. Sergeant Johnson used a life signs detector as the only member of the team with the ATA gene. "Sir, I'm picking up three life signs down the hall" he reported dutifully in a barely audible whisper. Instead of verbally replying he used hand signals to order the team into flanking positions of the door, and opened it to reveal three expedition members.

"It's okay, the Wraith all gone now, no need to worry come on." Patrick said calmingly in response to their shock and fear of the door opening. "Airman, escort them back to the mess hall he ordered, to which airman Williams simply nodded and left with the expedition members.

"Sir I'm not seeing any other life signs here," reported Sergeant Johnson waiting for his next orders.

"Okay let's keep sweeping until the sensors are back up and running." He ordered, knowing they were searching for enemy Wraith in previously unexplored parts of the city, dangerous under the best of circumstances, as the nano virus incident had proven. As the team moved on Sora walked closer to him until they were next to each other, the team no longer sweeping for enemies.

"So Lieutenant, I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me back there." She said, obviously awkward about the idea of receiving help from those she considered her enemy not long ago. "Not many people have stood up for me as a person rather than at most a military officer."

"No problem Sora. Well actually it is a problem just not for you. Many in the military think I have too much sympathy for others." He said, as if quoting a lecture from a superior officer, before failing to contain a smile at the thought.

In response Sora laughed and said "many Genii thought the same about me" smiling just a little too much for the circumstances

"Not to interrupt Sir, but I've picked up another life sign dead ahead. It appears to be hiding, unfortunately I can't tell if it's lying in wait or just hiding."Sergeant Johnson interrupted, plainly irritated by the lack of professionalism from his superior officer in a crisis situation.

After reacting to the fact that someone else was still there both Lieutenant O'Riely and Sora quickly recovered, the Lieutenant saying "assume that it is in wait for us. Sora takes the first shot." He ordered quickly, and then signaled for complete silence. Using hand signals and coordination the team approached the stairwell where the life sign was hiding quietly, right up until the advancing Sergeant Johnson and Lieutenant O'Riely were shot by Wraith stun blasts. A Wraith emerged from the shadows ready to feed on the Lieutenant which Sora quickly shot with the Zat twice to ensure it wouldn't get up. After checking to make sure it was dead she ran to the Lieutenants side and, obviously concerned whispered "Lieutenant, Lieutenant! You have to get up now. Come on Patrick!" she became visibly relieved when he groaned in response and stirred.

"I really hate those stun things." He said simply "Johnson you okay?"

"Ugh" came the response from the floor several feet away.

As Sora helped the Lieutenant into a sitting position he remarked "damn I think that Wraith increased the power on that thing, it doesn't usually hurt this much"

At that moment the city wide loudspeaker came on "all teams Biometric sensors have confirmed the last Wraith was just killed, all search teams return to the Tower."

"Okay, of we go to see the wonderful wizard of Oz" remarked a still groggy Lieutenant O'Riely

"What?" asked Sora, confused.

"Nothing never mind. Let us go." Ordered the Lieutenant.


	4. Chapter 4

Lieutenant Patrick O'Riely finished a private conversation on his radio and approached his reassembled team in the mess hall, appearing disappointed as he looked at them. He looked at his old friend Sergeant Johnson, a career Air Force Pararescueman and now SG team member. At the kid Airman First Class Robert Williams, smiling as he recalled the four Intar rounds he took in training just over a year ago, and how now he never did anything until he was in cover. At the newest team member Sora, a Genii traitor/refugee/confused young woman abandoned by her people, looking for a new home and a family. "Sora I've just received word, you've been accepted as a probationary member of this Expedition" now talking over the elated response from Sora and the surprisingly happy grunt from his normally reserved second in command, he said "but you have to undergo some specialized training in our weapons, tactics, protocols, and equipment before we go on any more missions." At the mild look of concern on her face he hurriedly added "don't worry, after your performance today I know you'll pass with flying colors."

"Why would a flying color be a good thing? That would seem to imply I was under the influence of some form of drug or had a head injury? Am I expected to undergo head trauma in this training of yours?" she asked confused despite the fact that she just received some of the biggest news of her life.

"No no, it's just an expression, and now that you point it out it really doesn't make any sense at all." He replied amused at her sudden confusion. "but anyway we need to start as soon as possible Sora, all the Intel we've collected says this was probably just a first wave, everything we know about the Wraith says one thing (deep voice) They'll Be Back." Again Sora expressed confusion while the rest of the team laughed.

Later on in the base shooting range Lieutenant O'Riely began training Sora, now dressed in expedition uniform and body armor, in the Tau'ri military equipment. "This is a Beretta M9 handgun, it has a 15 round magazine" he stopped suddenly and Sora interrupted him asking

"Lieutenant is it okay if I continue to use the Zat gun I was given? It seemed far superior to the handgun you describe now." She asked holding the Zat in its specially designed holster.

"Uh sure but you still have to learn about the gun in case you need to use one in the field "He agreed in response, sensing that this would be a difficult training session, while trying not to think about the fact that he agreed with her and focusing on at least pretending to have professional feelings toward her.

"Thank you, I've never seen a weapon that I liked as much as this thing," She said gratefully as she strapped the holster and new favorite sidearm to her leg.

"Eh the thing is okay, I guess I'm just used to the kick of our own projectile weapons." He said simply, having a strange moment of affection for different weapons he had fired.

After several hours teaching Sora the joys of how to properly use, disassemble and maintain several Tau'ri weapons, he got to the last and most important one, the P90. "This is a P90, personal defense weapon, equipped with a reflex scope and surefire tactical light." He explained showing her each feature as he described it. "Each magazine has 50 rounds when full, and the clear top allows you to check your ammunition with a glance. As General O'Neill describes it this is a weapon of war, designed to kill the enemy." He said in a tone he would regret deeply should a commanding officer ever hear him.

"Really? Please tell me no one actually said that," she asked laughing at his impersonations, which she just realized was something he did rather often, judging by his team's response to the first one.

"Yes he did," he replied also laughing "but it was a very smart thing to say in context, it just sounds kind of stupid out of context. Anyway the P90," he said abruptly, attempting to get back to some semblance of professional business.

"Yes I have seen your teams use this weapon to great effect. I must admit I have been waiting for you to get to it." She replied eagerly, and sat patiently through the lessons of long term care for one's P90 until it came the time to teach her to shoot it properly. At the shooting range she attempted and failed to get consistently accurate hits on the target until as she grew more and more frustrated that her genii military training was failing her in front of the new boss.

Eventually Lieutenant O'Riely stepped in, saying "look Sora your stance is all wrong for this kind of weapon here," and without thinking stepped in behind her to correct her shooting stance, only realizing just how close he was after he did so. Ignoring several impulses which immediately sprang to mind such as how her skin would feel against his, and the taste of her lips on his own. He did in fact correct her stance hoping she hadn't noticed anything unusual in the contact. After a lingering awkward moment in which he became quite sure that she had in fact noticed, she nevertheless resumed practicing and drastically improved back to the expert marksman she was reported to be. "Excellent, well know that you understand everything you need about our weapons, we should get …" his sentence was cut off rather suddenly as Sora, sensing he was going to let their relationship go on in this way for quite some time chose that moment to shove him against the nearest wall and kiss him until he finally gave in to his very poorly hidden feelings for her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Move it! Come on, come on!" Sora shouted over her own raging gunfire as Wraith and Atlantis personnel fought over control over the gate, and more importantly the open wormhole to Atlantis. Sora and a team of marines were holding the gate but with a Wraith cruiser entering the atmosphere, they couldn't hold for long. Most of the Expedition members were through the gate but a few were still running for it, dodging stunner blasts. Most were carrying or helping a teammate who had been hit. Most notably Sergeant Bates and all of Sora's team were helping to cover the retreat of those who were hit. The Wraith continued to advance like a roman legion, presenting a solid wall of blue skinned life sucking aliens as the expedition retreated to the gate.

Most of the Expedition made it through but Sora's team became pinned down, taking too many stunner blasts to move from their limited cover. Luckily a combination of grenades and some very well placed C-4 disrupted the wraith attack long enough for the team to move, almost making it to the gate before Airman Williams took a stunner blast to the leg. Sergeant Johnson helped him, and Sergeant Bates led the last few Expedition members through the gate. As they arrived back on Atlantis Bates said that they were the last to come through, Sora knowing Airman Roberts and Sergeant Johnson were just behind her yelled "no wait!" just before they did come through. The Control room tech hesitated at her yell, the security personnel didn't.

Airman Williams came through first and took the full force of the Gate's security detail as well as all the Alpha Site security forces. Each one only fired once or maybe twice, but they all added up. His body armor held for a split second before visibly ripping apart as far more bullets hit it than it was designed to handle. His military training had made him tough but no one could handle that amount of strain. All his strength allowed him to do was control his fall for a few seconds, landing on his knees and reaching for help even as the gate shut down and the real threat ended. Help came rushing to him, Sergeant Johnson and some of Beckett's team hurried to him as his strength ran out, he fell flat on the floor dead just as the team arrived. There was nothing they could do.

As they all watched on at their teammate, Sora reacted first, running over and punching Bates in the face. Repeatedly. After a moment Lieutenant O'Rielly reached her and discovered he needed the aid of several marines to hold her back. "You Bastard" she yelled at Bates. Through a combination of anger and grief at the unnecessary loss of one of her very few friends she continued bitterly "What was that? You knew he was behind us you, knew he was coming yet you said no one was left. Are you that much of a coward that you left your own people behind to save your ass even when you were surrounded by this much firepower?"

After a moment of shock Bates reacted. "What I knew was that he had been stunned, and was going down. What I knew was that there were dozens of Wraith there all firing at the Gate. What I knew was that he had no chance of making it back. I didn't say that to save myself you ungrateful little bitch, I ordered it for the good of the city!"

After Sora reacted even more violently then before, Dr. Weir stepped in shouting "enough both of you! For crying out loud hold them back! Now!" at her order most of the security force was required to hold back both Bates and Sora. "Settle down NOW!" she ordered, with an edge to her voice just daring them to defy her. Both were wise enough not to. "Now get Major Sheppard up here, this is his department."

A few minutes later Major Sheppard arrived and said "what the hell happened?" at the same time realizing that both Sora and Bates were still being held back, with most of the security detail ready to react to them if need be. "And what the hell happened between you two?" he added.

Sora answered quickly "The Alpha Site was attacked, Wraith descended in force and we were forced to retreat. During the withdrawal Airman Williams took a stunner to the leg, which was good enough for Sergeant Bates to write him off as soon as he got safely back to Atlantis. He told everyone that no one else was coming, and the security detail shot Airman Williams when Sergeant Johnson threw him through the gate."She finished bitterly as she stared daggers at Sergeant Bates.

"I saw him go down Major, he had been hit and there were too many Wraith for him to make it back even with help, they shouldn't have made it back, I … how did you get back?" he finally asked, confused.

Sergeant Johnson answered slowly "I'm not really sure, but the Wraith seemed to lose interest in us. They dropped something by the gate as we were leaving. Let us go through it. I tossed Williams through first to protect him from the Wraith. Guess that was a big mistake."

"It's all right Johnson; it's not your fault. Bates you should've waited. We don't leave people behind if it can be helped. And the fact that the Wraith stopped shooting through the gate should have clued you in that something was up." Major Sheppard finished admonishingly, clearly not as angry as some felt he should be.

"Major on his orders one of our own people was shot and killed. I haven't been here that long but it seems like the kind of thing you would punish him for," Sora said bitterly.

"Yes under normal circumstances there probably would be but these are far from normal. From his description it seems like he had a good reason to expect them not to make it. The Wraith marking the planet couldn't be anticipated. He still should have waited, but it isn't like there is a court marshal here to decide if he made a serious error or not. For now, Bates will remain on active duty. We need everyone to help deal with the incoming Wraith Fleet, in case you have all forgotten that." He reminded them forcefully, enforcing his role as commander and making his decision clear.

"Sir, how did they know about our Alpha site? The planet was uninhabited; the Wraith should have had no interest in the planet. They just attacked our settlement, it wasn't like a culling. More like they knew we were there." He remarked concerned. "Sir, you have to consider that there is a leak from somewhere in this base."

"This again Bates? For the last time drop it! You already nearly wrecked our relations with the Athosians and you were proven wrong!" He yelled angrily at his irritating head of security.

"That may be true Sir but in that instance the Wraith were getting information." Bates replied defiantly

Even Sora was forced to agree "He's right Major, it did seem like they knew we were there, I have seen many cullings, this was not one."

"Oh Crap," Was all the Major had to say, before explaining Teyla's connection to the Wraith.

A few hours later, after Teyla confirmed the Wraith intended to get to Earth Sora finally found Lieutenant O'Rielly almost hiding in his room. "There you are, Pat I've been searching all over for you. You okay?"

"Sure, I just found out the Wraith want to go to my home and suck the life out of everyone I love and care about. Why would I be feeling down?"

Sora, desperately searching for a topic change quietly asked "Everyone you love?"

Realizing how big he just screwed up he got up and walked over to Sora, and held her tightly saying "No not everyone. One person I love will still be here with me, this amazing woman I know."

"Really? This sounds like someone I should know. Tell me about her" she said smiling, successfully distracting him with his much more positive feelings about her.

"Well she's strong, smart, a great shot, and I trust her in a fight more than anyone else I know. She's also moderately pretty but could kind of use a haircut." He finished jokingly and she reacted with mock anger.

"Wait really?" she asked now feeling her hair to determine if it had grown too long.

"Well… no I'm just kidding. Anyway how are you doing? I should have checked up on you before hiding in my room. You took Williams' death really hard. I gotta admit it was hard for me too. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Pat," she said as she let out a sigh. "I don't really have many friends her other than the team. I think it was more because he didn't have to die if that idiot Bates hadn't been there. I'll be okay." She finished clearly to him, obviously glad for the concern he showed her. "And in return I am concerned about you, after all I didn't go hide in my quarters." She finished, showing the same concern for him as he did for her.

"Well I'm fine, or I'll be fine. And if I'm not I'll die fighting the Wraith so either way my mental health works out." He said jokingly. At the look of alarm on her face he continued "Sora I do love you but I will defend my homeworld. I'll defend you and everyone else I care about, with my life if necessary, and the way things look now it probably will be. You understand that, you understand why I'd do it." She simply nodded her head in response and embraced him tightly, each holding on to the other. Sora sat there with him in silence for a long time, now thinking of ways to survive the coming ordeal, with both the city and her lover intact.


	6. Chapter 6

Lieutenant O'Rielly and his team stood in Stargate Operations along with most of the remaining expedition members waiting for good news, particularly that the Lantean satellite had destroyed the incoming Hive Ships. As they waited the radio crackled to life and the voice of Rodney McKay came out saying "Atlantis we have a kill."

After that nothing could be heard over the cheering, until eventually they all realized something was wrong. Eventually the report came in that the satellite was destroyed, along with Peter Grodin. As Dr. Weir ordered the jumper back to the city, the Expedition finished final preparations for evacuation. Civilian members went through first with light military escort. A small contingent stayed to the last second to escort Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard as the last to evacuate Atlantis.

"I guess that's it then. Nothing else we can do right?" Lieutenant O'Rielly remarked bitterly. He was dangerously close to giving up, to believing he would never again return to the country and people he had signed up to protect.

"Hey! There is nothing we can do for now Pat but we will find some way for you to get home." Sora replied reassuringly, but firm enough that he knew she believed it.

"Yea, maybe. Either way we need to go." He replied in a louder voice as he prepared his team to abandon Atlantis now reassured enough to return to his duties as an officer. Sergeant Johnson discreetly thanked Sora, as reminding the Lieutenant of the fact that he has no time for despair would usually fall to the nearest NCO, or lower ranking officer.

As they all lined up by the Stargate the self destruct alarm began. As they prepared to step through one last time the gate light up with an incoming wormhole. As the Shield activated the remaining defense team took up positions on both sides of the gate. "Stand down" came the order from the control room as the shield lowered and soldiers poured through wearing Marine uniforms. Not sure if she would recognize friendlies, Lieutenant O'Rielly moved to lower Sora's gun for her but she was already pointing it to the floor. He was momentarily taken aback that she had recognized an entirely different branch of the military so quickly. She had clearly been studying up on Earth. And he needed to stop underestimating her.

The Marines continued pouring through the gate carrying massive crates, some marked with radioactive warnings. Robotic F.R.E.D.s carried more. Lieutenant O'Rielly and the entire defense team who had no orders to the contrary simply tried to stay out of the way. The sense that the Marines had just taken over was palpable as Dr. Weir argued with Colonel Dillon Everet over command of the city.

"Sir, did Dr. Weir just get fired?" Sora asked in a low voice so as not to be overheard.

"I think so," replied Sergeant Johnson, cutting off Lieutenant O'Rielly. In response to the look he got he explained "It's my job to be the negative one sir, you get to be the beacon of hope."

Before Lieutenant O'Rielly could react to that the self destruct alarm was deactivated, and one of the marines asked for their assistance in unloading the crates, revealing several nuclear weapons, railgun emplacements, and stockpiles of earth weaponry. Eventually after a few minutes of arguing the team saw the alpha site dialed to recall all military personnel and anyone willing to help, and they were assigned to distribute the weapons around the city. There was an unusually low amount of strain between the branches of the military, something almost unique to the Stargate program. When faced with life-sucking aliens even the U.S. military swallows its collective pride.

Later on they were finally informed of the plan to save Atlantis in a briefing by Colonel Everet, further establishing his authority as Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard stood of to the side. "As you are all no doubt aware we have placed railgun emplacements all around the city, we will use these to hold off Wraith darts should any breach our primary line of defense. That line is a series of naquada enhanced nuclear warheads, rendered invisible to radar and EM that will detonate on a proximity fuse, catching the Hives as they approach Atlantis. They were to be disseminated by several of my men flying cloaked jumpers however the gene inoculation didn't take in one of them, so any personnel willing to try the gene therapy are welcome to do so after this briefing." Sora had to contain her excitement at that one; she had been waiting for a chance to try the gene therapy but with the Wraith on the way had never gotten the chance. "The Daedalus has been outfitted with a ZPM to bring her here in less than four days. When she arrives we can use it to power the city shield. Until then we just need to hold on. Any questions?"

"Sir, I have one. How will the Daedalus take on two Wraith Hive ships?" Sora asked betraying an intelligence she normally kept hidden, "I may not be from your world but your technology does not seem advanced enough to fight them in ship to ship combat."

One of the Marines answered "The Daedalus has been outfitted with the most advanced weapons we had to offer. She was equipped with Railguns but after you reports on their technology, She was upgraded with our prototype energy weapons. These weapons were developed with our technology and that of …" he trailed off as Colonel Everet gave him a look that could penetrate refined trinium.

"All you need to know is Daedalus should be able to take a Wraith Hive, but the rest of that answer is classified information Miss Sora. As a Genii I'm sure you understand secrets. Also I am afraid I have to ask you to stay out of our way until where your loyalties lie can be … ascertained."

"Sir? What does that mean exactly?" Asked an outraged Lieutenant O'Rielly, barely keeping military courtesy.

"It means that we can handle the defense of Atlantis _Lieutenant. _And that until I am sure of who exactly she is loyal to she will not be shown any sensitive information, or allowed to impede the defense of this base." Colonel Everett replied arrogantly, intending to put the Lieutenant in his place.

"Impede?" Sora nearly shouted. At Everett's use of the word several members of the expedition had moved between her and the colonel, as she had a well known habit of _proving_ her combat abilities to those who doubted her. This went unnoticed by the Colonel.

"Stand down," ordered Lieutenant O'Rielly, trying to salvage the situation. When Sora reluctantly relaxed he turned to the Colonel saying "Sir, Sora is an integral part of my team who I trust with my life, a life she has saved on numerous occasions. Respectfully sir, if you can't trust her then you can't trust me." He finished, coming dangerously close to an ultimatum.


	7. Chapter 7

"Nor me sir," Chimed in Sergeant Johnson.

"Sir, respectfully Sora was only put on a team after proving her loyalty during a crisis, when the Wraith nearly overran this city. She has proven herself loyal to this expedition and to the proper chain of command repeatedly despite not being a member of the military." Major Sheppard added in a show of support, furthering the clear divide between the Expedition, and the marines, creating a dangerous situation. Both sides recognized that Everett's authority was running slim among the expedition if he kept shoving them to the side.

Despite this Everett clearly saw this as more proof that he needed to establish his authority, saying "Your opinion of her does not concern me _Major. _I am in command here not you." Evert didn't realize that he was making the situation worse than it was without him. There was no way he could lead Atlantis to safety if he didn't use every asset at his disposal, and there was even less chance of survival if half of the defense force didn't trust the other and vice-versa. The room nearly degenerated into a verbal equivalent of a bar brawl.

Sora saw the danger as clear as anyone, realized the colonel wasn't going to be reasonable or back down, and realized what would happen if she continued pushing. "All right!" she said loudly silencing everyone in the room "I'll stay out of the way colonel. But you will need me, Teyla and the Athosians at some point." She said rather ominously as she left.

"I'll take that under advisement," said Colonel Everett, as smugly as he could manage. He could manage to be very smug. "Now we need to discuss deployment of Anti-Aircraft positions. Major?" he asked to make a point. He intended to have the entire room watch the major obey his orders. Lieutenant O'Rielly knew he had no possible excuse to follow Sora, and even if he did he couldn't use it. He needed to know about the defense strategy. He could always sympathize and apologize to her later. But if one or both of them got killed that wouldn't happen. So he stayed and genuinely paid attention to the most seemingly minute details, because anyone of them might end up the key to keeping his team and especially Sora alive.

The meeting went on for several hours. Lieutenant O'Rielly was finally free but he had to evade all his superiors to meet up with Sora. That didn't work out as well as he hoped it would.

"Lieutenant O'Rielly. Come here please." Ordered Colonel Everet in his characteristic pompous sneer.

"Yes sir?" Lieutenant O'Rielly asked wondering what Everet wanted to talk to him about and not liking the possibilities. Either he wanted to give him a dangerous assignment, or he wanted to talk about Sora. He would much prefer the potential bodily harm than listen to that pompous ass condescend her.

"I need to discuss Sora with you." Of course he did.

"What about her sir?"

"I noticed you took quite the stand in her defense. I have had similar discussions with Major Sheppard .In fact he used an almost identical argument. Tell me are you both guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer or are you just naïve?"

"Neither sir." He replied mostly honestly. Sora was not a member of the U.S. military so technically he was not breaking any rules. Very technically. "I have seen her in combat sir believe me we could use her help. And I think you should give serious thought to her giving the defense teams some hand to hand combat training. She has some moves never before seen on earth. As to whether or not she can be trusted she saved my life sir. She saved the lives of many members of this expedition and she has had plenty of opportunities to betray us to the Genii."

"So you're telling me that you trust her because she didn't exploit holes in your security?" He asked like someone who had just won a war of words.

"No sir that's not what I meant. I mean that we came to trust her and she has not betrayed that trust. She has served well and courageously and there is no one I trust more in a combat situation. She is a loyal member of this expedition sir. If you can't trust my word on that than you just need to give her an opportunity to prove it to you herself. "He finished realizing he had inadvertently started a speech. He came dangerously close to admitting they were sleeping together. It was probably best not to drop that particular gem on the Colonel. He would probably not share the Lieutenant's liberal interpretation of the rules.

Fortunately the Colonel didn't seem to pick up on that fact. Apparently he genuinely thought they were incompetent. "I'll take that under advisement Lieutenant. I trust your team can function without her?"

"Yes sir." He replied, practically biting out the words, hating himself for agreeing but seeing no other opportunity.

"That will be all Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir." He replied and quickly ducked out of the room. At least he didn't have to avoid anyone else. He activated his earpiece and connected with Sora's. "Hey Sora? Where are you?"

"I'm at the gym pat. I need to talk to you." She said carefully monitoring her words. Lieutenant O'Rielly decided a genii's sense of paranoia might not be out of place here.

He quickly made his way to the gym. Luckily Sora's mood was well known with the rest of the base. The gym was completely deserted. Sora was beating a punching back viciously, very viciously. She appeared to have been going at it for much of the time she had been gone, judging by the scattered bantos rods and other discarded weapons. That and the fact that she was cooling down considerably, mostly because she seemed to be exhausted. Her anger faded entirely when she saw him, and she just short of ran over to him. They pulled each other in for a tight compassionate hug, and she kissed him just as passionately.

They held that kiss for a long moment then broke apart, simply looking at each other for a moment. He knew he had other things to focus on, knew the oncoming Wraith armada deserved his full attention and he should be working. He also knew none of that was going to happen. He saw nothing but Sora, her face, her body held so tantalizingly close to him, and in seconds he stopped thinking as she pulled in again for another kiss, even more passionately than before. He stopped thinking about all his problems and the universe and started thinking on the most efficient ways to remove all of their clothing as fast as possible.


End file.
